Saturday, August 05, 2006
Pecking Order
My son sent me this video of feeding pigeons on his Russian apartment ledge, along with this explanation:
"One pigeon started asserting his dominance and basically became the "king pigeon." He would not allow the other birds to get at the rice. He used a number of tactics to try and keep the others from getting at his food, and was quite successful!
A few of the good moves he had were the self-explanatory "wing slap," pecking other birds in the neck, and puffing up his chest to scare the others away. My favorite move, however, was the "charge up battering ram" technique. In this move, King Pigeon stood up really tall and leaned back a little bit to gain momentum. Then he charged forward with his gigantic chest forward (bloated from the rice he had already eaten) and pushed the other pigeons off the ledge.
I've really got to hand it to King Pigeon. He was the bravest bird I ever saw. Even when we opened the window to put out more food, he was the only bird that didn't fly away."
So I wonder, is king pigeon behavior appropriate and acceptable only in the animal world? Should people who strive to be king pigeons be admired or shunned in the long run?
"One pigeon started asserting his dominance and basically became the "king pigeon." He would not allow the other birds to get at the rice. He used a number of tactics to try and keep the others from getting at his food, and was quite successful!
A few of the good moves he had were the self-explanatory "wing slap," pecking other birds in the neck, and puffing up his chest to scare the others away. My favorite move, however, was the "charge up battering ram" technique. In this move, King Pigeon stood up really tall and leaned back a little bit to gain momentum. Then he charged forward with his gigantic chest forward (bloated from the rice he had already eaten) and pushed the other pigeons off the ledge.
I've really got to hand it to King Pigeon. He was the bravest bird I ever saw. Even when we opened the window to put out more food, he was the only bird that didn't fly away."
So I wonder, is king pigeon behavior appropriate and acceptable only in the animal world? Should people who strive to be king pigeons be admired or shunned in the long run?
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Well, about your last line -- I don't really admire the pigeon. He wasn't brave, he was just selfish to the point of stupidity!
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